MONMOUTH — At some point this season, the Monmouth girls’ soccer team knew it was going to give up a goal.
Hosting unbeaten St. Dom’s on Tuesday, it seemed possible that shutout streak might end, but the question remained: How would the Mustangs react?
Sure enough, the Saints controlled play from the start and struck early in the first half Tuesday.
“I thought they might be like, ‘We’ve lost it now,’ and they didn’t,” Monmouth coach Gary Trafton said. “They buckled up and made it tighter and worked harder. I was really pleased about that.”
If Trafton liked that, he was ecstatic about what followed. That first goal of the season remained the only goal of the season allowed by the Mustangs. Meanwhile, Monmouth answered with a pair of goals late in the first half to pull out a 2-1 win over the Saints.
“When they got that first goal, I was really proud of my team,” sophomore defender Emily Grandahl said. “We didn’t back down. We went harder because we wanted it more.”
Taylor Spadafora and Haley Fletcher had the two goals for the Mustangs. It was the first loss of the season for the Saints (7-1-1). St. Dom’s is ranked first in the current Class C South standings while Monmouth (6-0-1) is third.
“Unfortunately, we didn’t finish when we got the chances,” St. Dom’s coach Alicia Pelletier said. “I think overall, we dominated 90 percent of that game.”
The Saints had the Mustangs chasing them early. St. Dom’s created a number of chances early on. The Saints have some quickness up front and the Mustangs had trouble countering that speed. Monmouth keeper Mikayla Cameron made a diving save on an Avery Lutrzykowski shot early, but the Saints continued to set up quality shots.
With 24:41 left in the first half, Lutrzykowski fired a shot from the outside that found the right side of the cage for the 1-0 lead.
“We knew were going to have to come out tough against them because they were going to come out tough,” Spadafora said. “They’ve won a lot of games. We have too. We wanted to come out strong, and they scored the goal. I was worried we were going to hang our heads, but we just kept going.”
The Mustangs began to pick up their play and produced a crucial tying goal with 13:18 left. Spadafora was at the top of the box where she collected a loose ball. She had the space to shoot and fired a shot that hit the crossbar and went in.
“They’ve had me standing back and waiting for a ball to come out and it hasn’t happened all year,” Spadafora said. “I ‘ve just been waiting for my opportunity. It came, and I took it. I don’t get to score many goals.”
It was the second for Spadafora this season and helped spark the Mustangs.
“It definitely got us pumped up to keep going,” Spadafora said.
Monmouth began to create more chances offensively and drew a pushing call in the box late in the half. Fletcher drew the assignment on the penalty kick. She buried a shot to the right side for the 2-1 lead with 5:30 left.
Fletcher nearly added to the lead with 1:53 left when her header off a corner kick hit the crossbar. Grandahl had a try at the rebound but put it over the net. Fletcher hit another post early in the second half. She had a break but hit the right post.
St. Dom’s pressed for the equalizer, but the Mustangs did a solid defensive job. Monmouth had Abby Allen marking Lutrzykowski while Spadafora watched Alexandra Hammerton. St. Dom’s didn’t have the consistency of prime opportunities it had in the first half. Monmouth did a nice job breaking up runs and blocking passes. Anything that was sent ahead was cleared by Grandahl.
The Saints had some scoring bids in the second half. Lutrzykowski had a shot toward the right post that Cameron saved. Hammerton had a try from the left side that was stopped, as well. Lutrzykowski had a look in the closing minutes but Grandahl blocked it. Cameron finished with 10 saves. St. Dom’s keeper Victoria Sasse had four.
The Saints only have three upperclassmen and are built around 12 freshmen and six sophomores. St. Dom’s has played above its varsity years this fall, but sometimes, that inexperience shows.
“I think they played with a lot of heart today,” Pelletier said. “It’s just unfortunate that maturity showed at times with decision making.”
kmills@sunjournal.com
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